Bobby C

Past Event

Steamboat Springs  Bobby Collins compares his DJ act to walking and chewing gum at the same time.

Not only does “Bobby C” perform live remixes and original electronic tracks rife with scratching and rapid-fire mashups, he projects onto a big screen TV complementary video clips, remixed to add a multi-sensory flavor to his dance beats.

“It really works with that style,” Collins said. “I can be dropping clips in and out and be finding these streams of consciousness and videos that connect. You’re working more senses now, it’s not just the sense of sound.”

And Collins said when his videos are synched up on all 50 TVs in the Tap House Sports Grill during his free show tonight, it looks “pretty sweet.”

Tap House co-owner Melissa Baker said this show will be just the beginning of a new effort to bring live music and DJs to the basement dance floor.

She said Collins has impressed the crowds in his last two appearances at the bar.

“What Bobby does is really unique,” she said. “He brings a really upbeat positive vibe and it’s fun to dance to and fun to just watch his videos. He’s extremely creative and fun.”

Collins, a DJ of 10 years, said he first saw live video remixes two years ago when a DJ who opened for him showcased the unusual act.

He went home and immediately purchased a plug-in for his live mixing software and searched out Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit,” one of his favorite videos.

His program hooks up the video file to a turntable, so he can scratch on a record and see the effects on a visual level.

“It’s the coolest thing ever,” he said simply about controlling new technology with the spin of a record. “The turntable was invented in the 1800s and here I am in 2011 using it as a MIDI controller for video. That’s how much the turntable has stood the test of time.”

He said he occasionally will pre-make a music video for one of his original tracks, but almost everything he performs live is being remixed on the spot.

That means rehearsing and a lot of pressure to hold the stage on his own. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“As long as there’s something hands-on, as long as there’s something I can grab with my hands,” Collins said. “The turntable is an instrument, you can screw it up. As long as there’s a live object, I like the feeling when I perform that I have to get it right that time or it will fall apart.”

One of his most famous routines includes a clip of a “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” episode in which the children’s icon is learning to break dance, layered over an instrumental loop of a Cypress Hill track, a mix that exemplifies the creative dissonance and freedom that Collins aims for.

Although he spends most of his time remixing and producing for four record labels across the globe, he uses his spare time to search through the wide world of the Web for tiny gems of lost and forgotten video clips.

“I’m always looking for something weird and rare, so that I’m really hoping to get that reaction of, ‘Where’d he get that?’” Collins said.